The car...part II.

I took my car to the GM dealership on Tuesday to have a tune-up done and inspection of what needed to be repaired. There’s good news and bad news. The good news was that the car has a lot of new parts, timing belt, brakes, tires, etc. The engine is in good shape, the A/C is in good shape…these are all good things. I had all the fluids changed and radiator flushed and they changed some sparks plugs and fixed a problem concerning how the battery was grounded. (Which they thought was why the car didn’t always start up right away.) All this for about $300.

Apparently, and thankfully, the shocks are not bad but the springs need to be replaced. A previous owner cut the springs and tried to convert the car into a low rider…thanks for that previous owner. Now the springs are discontinued parts so junkyard hunting I will go. I’ve already found the back springs on ebay for about $30.
Anyway when I went to pick up the car on Wednesday evening, it wouldn’t start up right away. I put in the key, the engine clicked and nothing turned over. It started the second time, but I didn’t want to take it home until that problem was fixed. Something I forgot to mention in the last post, was that the guy I bought the car from gave me an “extra” transmit ion and starter and something to do with the brakes. Several times throughout the buying processing this guy tried to show me that the starter that was installed was going bad and probably needed to be replaced. So I left the Geo at the dealership for another day and had them put in the “extra” starter, for an “extra” $60.

So running tally on the car:
$1090 for the car +tax, tag and title.
$360 for immediate repairs and maintenance.
So I’m just under $1500.

The only substantial mechanical work that needs to be done is on the springs, and I’m not sure how labor intensive (expensive) that will be. I would love to get the car painted and the windshield replaced, but that’s like putting the cart before the horse. Gotta get the springs worked on first.

I’m also thinking about getting an mp3 player and an FM transmitter for the car. Zunes are on sale at Wal-Mart this week. I think the 8GB is about $130. I’m pretty tempted to get one, but I know that’ll cut into my budget for cosmetic repairs on the car. We’ll see what happens… I just might buy one today anywho.